Civil rights groups and opposition parties
in the country have described the 2012
national honours list released on Sunday
by the Presidency as “an attestation to the
decadence and show of shame of the
Jonathan regime.”
The groups queried that although some of those
nominated for this year’s national honours were
honest and credible Nigerians, the committee in
charge of the nomination would have excluded
people that were being probed by the Economic
and Financial Crimes Commission for fuel
subsidy fraud and other related offences.
The Organised labour had in a related
development urged President Goodluck
Jonathan to honour persons like the Chief MKO
Abiola; his late wife, Kudirat; ace lawyer and
foremost human rights crusader, Chief Gani
Fawehinmi; labour activist, the late Chima
Ubani; and Afrobeats legend, Fela Anikulapo-
Kuti among others.
Trade Union Congress and the Nigerian Labour
Congress condemned the way awards are given
in Nigeria, maintaining that the national
honours were not meant for only affluent
Nigerians.
President of the TUC, Peter Esele said, “Well,
there are people on the list who are of
impeccable character; these are some of the
Nigerians who have made serious contributions
to national development.
“I mean people of integrity like the former
Supreme Court Justice, Kayode Esho, whose
works speak for him and others like him.
“However, if there are people being
investigated by the EFCC for financial crimes, I
think, the right thing to do is not to nominate
them for such national award.
“Those investigated by the EFCC should not be
given awards until they are cleared by the
commission. The way we churn out these
awards every year, it will reduce the importance
attached to them. Honestly, I think they are
becoming too many; this is not the situation in
the United States where the President
nominates about nine people and they are taken
very seriously.
“You know that Nigerians are rated by the
amount of money they have and not by the level
of service rendered.”
Also condemning the honours list, the Acting
General Secretary of the Nigeria Labour
Congress (NLC), Chris Uyot said “Our view
generally is that the ruling class are only taking
care of themselves in terms of giving awards to
their colleagues, their partners, money bags and
the rest of them,
“A country that is so corrupt, where people are
stealing billions of Naira and awards are giving
to people who are maintaining the status quo of
corruption.”
He said: “The President should not depend on
recommendations from party chieftains and
friends from the business society. He should use
his discretion to ensure that the searchlight is
beamed on other segments of the society rather
politicians and technocrats. Great Ubani, Gani
Fawehinmi, MKO, Kudirat, Fela, and others did
a lot for Nigeria.”
Also, leading opposition parties, the Congress
for Progressive Change (CPC) and the Action
Congress of Nigeria (ACN) also condemned the
honour’s list.
The CPC through its National Publicity
Secretary, Rotimi Fashakin, said that national
honours had been bastardised.
He said the list was “an attestation to the
decadence and show of shame of the Jonathan
regime.”
The ACN also condemned the award list, stating
that credible people had been pushed aside in
the name of policking.
The ACN, in a statement by its state publicity
secretary, Joe Igbokwe, said that “a careful
perusal of the latest names released for
national honours shows that it is a pot-pouri of
businessmen that have no scruples, friends and
associates of those in government, discredited
contractors and acolytes of those in power,
especially at the federal level and mainly PDP
party members.”
President of the Campaign for Democracy, Dr.
Joe Okei-Odumakin, said, “The bottom line is
that our national honour has become
dishonourable. Honest Nigerians who have the
misfortune of carrying the devalued honours
should throw their plaques in the waste bin.”
Culled From Channels TV
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